Healing Waters
by theirbestchance
Summary: High maintenance was never her style, but in that moment she'd do unspeakable things for a shower.


Disclaimer: Just playing, will put everything back when finished.

High maintenance was never her style, but in that moment she'd do unspeakable things for a shower.

Between the ogre and Cora her hair feels like she's dunked it in a vat of grease, and the rest of her just feels downright unsanitary.

It isn't something she dare ask about, but how anybody managed to stay clean in this world is beyond her. For instance, none of her traveling companions seem particularly fazed by the less than hygienic conditions. Even Snow, who'd just come from twenty-eight years of indoor plumbing and shampoo has yet to complain. Which leads her to believe being filthy is just a way of being around here, but with the way her skin is starting to crawl Emma can't take much more.

Which is why when they decide to spend the night in the castle that would have been her home, she sees her opportunity and seizes it.

"Hey, I'm gonna go find that stream we passed coming here."

Of course, she's still not used to someone wanting a say in her plans.

"Emma. I don't think you should with Cora out-"

"I'll be fine," she interrupts, "Really, I just want-"

"I know what you want, but it's not safe!" Snow shouts back, her outburst causing Emma to take a step back on instinct.

Another first, her mother actually losing patience with her. She'd seemed fine after coming out of the nursery, but then that emotional roller-coaster is still fresh in Emma's mind too.

"I mean…I'm sorry, Emma. Just hold on for a moment, I have an idea."

Nodding, happy to ignore the awkwardness that's settled between them, she watches Snow briefly chat with Mulan and Aurora in the camp they've set up, before walking up to her again.

"Let's go."

Eager at the thought of rinsing off, she follows her mother, but pauses when they seem to be going further into the destroyed castle.

"Wait. Where are we going again?"

"You'll see," Snow smiles, almost mischievously, and Emma raises an eyebrow in response.

But still she follows, deeper and deeper into the fortress, until she starts wondering if the opportunity to bathe is worth a tetanus booster. And another thing-

"Where the hell are we going? I thought only dungeons were in the basements of castles."

"Patience, Emma," Snow responds, her teacher voice shining through, making Emma scoff.

But when she opens her mouth to make a sarcastic retort, she suddenly hears it.

Water. Running water.

And as the sound becomes clearer the stonework that's surrounded them gives way to unpolished cavern rock. The change quickly makes her close her mouth, and after they turn one last corner her jaw drops open again. A bubbling aquifer rests untouched before them, its water clear and deep, the rock around it smoothed by years of lapping water.

In seconds she's slipped out of her boots and jacket, jeans and socks quickly following as she shouts, "Last one in smells like ogre breath!"

The wave she makes cannonballing into the pool connects with her mother, the woman's surprised shout echoes in the cave, but the instant affect of the water on Emma's skin is worth any and all repercussions.

It's like for just a moment all her worries melt away with the dirt she's been living in, but when she surfaces she's met with a wave of her own.

"Ahh! Hey!" she shouts, wiping at the droplets on her face, hearing Snow laugh nearby.

"Turnabout is fair play!"

Emma immediately flips onto her back and kicks for all she's worth in her mother's direction.

The startled cry makes her laugh, but she soon finds starting a water war with Snow White is no laughing matter.

The woman is downright calculating, patient in her attacks while Emma tries to keep up, splashing out in all directions. Finally her pride can take no more, and she calls uncle, the now foaming water slowly dissipating with the ceasefire. Kicking her way back to the shallow end, Emma sighs contently, the water and, well, fun, making her feel more refreshed, more focused than she has felt in a while.

Her hair, however, will take a while to dry with no modern cosmetic help, so she resigns herself to get out and start the drying process. Sitting on rock just at the water's edge, she wrings out what she can, then begins to drag her fingers through the long strands in search of knots.

Emma might have chopped all of it off a long time ago, but the fact is, like her baby blanket, her hair has stuck with her through a lot of crap. It's a constant, one of the few things she truly likes about herself, so whenever she could afford a cut and style she only went in for a trim.

The downside, of course, is massively tangled hair when it gets wet.

She's working on a particularly hard tangle too, when suddenly she feels the water around her move and Snow's hand grab hers.

"Let me."

Her mother is up and out of the pool before she can respond, sitting behind her and pushing her hands away to begin working on the knot in a much gentler manner. But still-

"You don't have to-"

"Emma, get used to it, remember?"

She stiffens, but forces herself to relax when she feels the knot finally break free and Snow moves on to the next one.

And after a short while, she doesn't have to force herself. It really is relaxing. So much so that she's half asleep when Snow speaks up softly, almost as if to herself.

"The dwarfs found this place digging out a new storage cache. Charming surprised me with it one night when my joints were so swollen from carrying you those last few months. You liked the water even then. I never felt you kick so much as when we came here."

Her nursery had been one thing, but this is another. That room represented everything her parents had wanted for her, but this place, this is what they had with her, for however short a time.

Emma tells herself the water dripping from her face is from the pool, but when Snow moves and wraps an arm around her shoulders she doesn't resist.

"Thanks for bringing me here."

Her mother's grip tightens.

"Of course. You really did smell like ogre breath."

Emma pushes her mother back in without a second thought, but doesn't notice the hand gripping her arm until it's too late.

"Son of a-!"

_SPLASH!_


End file.
